What is fun? Fun: n. is described by dictionary.com as being "something that provides mirth or amusement: playfulness or happiness." Video Games used to be fun for everyone to make, play, & share. However, over the last decade game publishers, console manufacturers, and some development studios have lost their way. The game creation business has grown to outrages proportions and has ended up outgrowing itself. Bad decision after bad decision has compounded itself and brought us to this point in time where gaming isn't about fun anymore. It's about money and who is entitled to the biggest share. This imminent battle for control of our dollars won't bring about another great crash for the game industry. This industry is strong enough to endure some hardships but change is coming. Battle lines have been drawn. It's very poetic that similarities can be drawn from David vs. Goliath, the light and dark side of the force, yin and yang or good vs. evil. This is battle for our time, our dollars, our friends and the future of fun.
Microsoft wants us to believe they have the ultimate answer to this question with the Xbox 1. The all in one entertainment solution that will revolutionize the living room. In doing so they have redefined what a console should be capable of going forward. They have also adjusted many policies in the way we receive, buy, sell, access and loan content in hopes to make the future brighter for Microsoft and their partners. Even today the 360 services only work through approved service providers. Every step they take is step to protect their interests, their partners, and their wallets.
The first step in this master plan for Microsoft was to ensure that previously purchased digital content will not carry over to the X1. This way publishers can re-release any content on the new platform in hopes customers will purchase the same content a second time.
The second step was to abolish the private sale of goods. On the X1 it is no longer possible to sell your games on Ebay, Amazon, garage sales, or smaller used game stores. This is yet another way to control the flow of our dollars. Publishers and Microsoft make money on new game, console, and accessory sales. Private sale does nothing for them.
The third step to control the flow of dollars was to remove the ability to rent games from services like Redbox, and Gamefly. Customers, renting a game does not pay the publisher or Microsoft any money and is another potential sale lost.
The fourth objective of the Microsoft publisher agreement removes the ability to loan games to friends. This is yet another way Microsoft and Publishers were losing money. If I loan a game to friend A and he plays it and keeps it for a week and beats the game. Then Microsoft and Publishers have lost yet another sale.
Lastly, Microsoft and it's partners have to address piracy. The amount of potential sales lost is huge. To block the pirates we now have mandatory, once every 24 hour check-ins during which time the X1 will connect to the internet and verify all the content on my console.
As you can see, the majority of the new policies are very intrusive to the customer base. The sad part is that none of them would be required if publishers and console manufactures didn't consistently mismanage this industry into the ground. This industry can't manage budgets, mismanages employees on a daily basis, and treats it's talent like dirt. Strippers have more job security than anyone in the game industry. To me that is very sad. It's like the industry hires illegal immigrants every year and then fires them all as they all go back across the border.
The publishers and developers would rather hire cheap temp talent that can be worked to death, than keep anyone on staff with experience. This plan has backfired on them from the beginning because the cheap talent isn't as knowledgeable and has a harder time getting the job done. So what do the publishers do to fix this problem? They throw more cheap talent at the problem causing budgets to rise. This ultimately cuts into the bottom line and profitability. A game that sells a million copies should be very profitable but because of the bad business decisions being made from top to bottom companies are barely breaking evening. It's a constant endless loop that has to stop. Instead of addressing the real problem they have chosen to screw the customer and squeeze a little more dollars out of our pockets by forcing us into new sales. Hopefully, this increases sales enough that games are profitable again.
Fortunately, a strong few are standing up for themselves and are cutting the Publishers and Microsoft out of the loop by venturing out on their own to develop indie games. Sony and Nintendo are supporting this group as it continues to grow by allowing self publishing on their consoles without outrageous fees. Sony & Nintendo don't appear to be implementing any consumer constraining policies to control dollars. Instead they appear to be focusing on consumer and more importantly dev friendly policies they will turn the big companies upside down. Sony has already announced five free to play games will be coming to the PS4 at launch. The acceptance of more radical pricing models, the indie dev friendly attitude, and policies that support the customers are very exciting things to see.
In conclusion, I hope Sony and Nintendo put their foot in the ground and draw a line. They should stand firm and support the customer and smaller developers. The big business side of the game industry is failing and has been for some time. They can only Band-Aid the problem so many times until it doesn't work anymore. More control of our dollars, of our developers, and of the retail market is not the answer to dig us out of an unprofitable hole. It's just going to lead to more shady business practices in the future. These ideas will only work for so long. Currently, the answer seems to lie with Sony, Nintendo, and Indie Developers. Lower prices to the consumer, lower cost of production for often times better quality games is the answer. This will promote better quality of life for the developers, and it won't nickel and dime the customer. The question I'll pose to you is when money is no longer an issue what sounds more fun? I urge you all to stand with me and support Sony, Nintendo, the Indie community and a better future for games. I can no longer support the Microsoft/Publisher Gestapo!!
Log in to comment